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Oculus VR’s founder could be in huge legal trouble – here’s why

Palmer Luckey, the founder of Oculus VR Inc, is in hot water surrounding the use of key proprietary data for the company's Rift headset.

Some of the biggest names in virtual reality have resorted to duking out their differences in a courtroom. According to a report from Reuters, Oculus VR Inc. founder Palmer Lucky is in hot water after U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco decided to allow a breach of contract case to proceed.

Luckey is accused of using confidential information as his own for the development and rollout of the popular Oculus Rift VR headset. While the judge threw out several other claims filed by Total Recall Technologies, the company that collected the confidential data, the breach of contract case was allowed to move forward.

According to representatives from Total Recall Technologies, a Hawaii-based company, Luckey was hired in 2011 to build a prototype head-mounted virtual reality set. Luckey signed a contract agreeing to keep all company information confidential.

Luckey allegedly used information he gathered from his time as a Total Recall employee to launch a Kickstarter campaign to build his own VR headset, the Oculus Rift. Using feedback and information that would improve the Total Recall headset’s design, Luckey went forth and sold his Rift headset to Facebook for $2 billion in 2014.

Luckey claims that the lawsuit is a last-ditch effort on Total Recall’s part to get a piece of the VR pie. According to the Oculus founder, the lawsuit is a “brazen attempt to secure for itself a stake in Oculus VR’s recent multi-billion dollar acquisition by Facebook.”

It remains unclear how the two parties will resolve the dispute, and Total Recall declined to comment on the case.